I remember little of what I hear; how about you?

[ShineyMcShineShine]

I'm curious to know to what extent people remember the music they hear. I can listen to a piece of classical music ten times, then listen to it again a year or two later and it's as if I'm hearing it for the first time. By contrast, I can hear a snatch of a pop song once in a shopping mall and twenty years later hear it again and say to myself "I think I've heard that before."

I should note I've been listening to classical music for 30 years, so this question doesn't really belong here, but I didn't know where else to put it; Name That Tune? didn't seem quite appropriate either.

[Karl Henning]

I suspect I remember less than when I was a student. I don't remember enough to distinguish most Haydn symphonies or string quartets from one another after I've done listening. And I should be hard pressed to try to hum anything from most of the Shostakovich or Weinberg quartets. But neither do I let that faze me.

[DavidW]

I think I'm the opposite.  I have music playing in my head sometimes to the point of distraction.  Right now, the opening of Bach's St. John Passion is raging full-on.  If I don't listen to something frequently it doesn't stick, if it is too complex it will only feel familiar when I play it.  But most music, especially the ones I love, live rent-free in my head.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

Right now, the opening of Bach's St. John Passion is raging full-on.

As ear-worms go, it could be worse. For some reason I woke up the other day with "Philadelphia Freedom" in my head, even though I probably haven't heard it in 40 years.

[foxandpeng]

I'm curious to know to what extent people remember the music they hear. I can listen to a piece of classical music ten times, then listen to it again a year or two later and it's as if I'm hearing it for the first time. By contrast, I can hear a snatch of a pop song once in a shopping mall and twenty years later hear it again and say to myself "I think I've heard that before."

I should note I've been listening to classical music for 30 years, so this question doesn't really belong here, but I didn't know where else to put it; Name That Tune? didn't seem quite appropriate either.

I tend in that direction. I find that classical music sticks less easily than other genres, despite my preference for it and 35+ years of listening.

[DavidW]

As ear-worms go, it could be worse. For some reason I woke up the other day with "Philadelphia Freedom" in my head, even though I probably haven't heard it in 40 years.

My Mother is that way!  She can't remember what she ate yesterday, but she can remember a song she had not heard in decades.

[71 dB]

It is funny, but I remember very little* of the music I have heard, even my favourite music (!), but if I heard music I have heard before I recognised it instantly. This can feel strange. I may remember nothing of anything Debussy wrote for example, but if I listen to a CD of Debussy's music I have listened to before, there isn't anything I don't find familiar to me. It is like not remembering what colours look like, but recognising them 100 % when seeing them.

* I remember the most memorable parts of music and some of those are even earworms, but that's it.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

if I heard music I have heard before I recognised it instantly.

That's really what I was asking. I should have worded my question differently. Recognizing a piece of music and being able to "hear" it in your head when it isn't playing are two different things. Of course some tunes are very memorable and can even be hummed by the average listener, but I imagine most classical music is too complex to be recreated in one's head unless one has talent or training in that direction. Sadly, I can neither remember nor recognize most of the classical music I have heard.

[KevinP]

It depends on how closely I'm paying attention. It's certainly possible for me not to recognise a theme from the first movement that comes back in the final movement until a few listens.

I'm also a bottom-up listener (possibly in the midst of changing as I've become increasing aware of this), meaning that my attention is focused on notes and motifs and pattern recognition to the point that I'm sometimes not consciously aware of the emotion being conveyed or that I'm listening to the climax. I'm exagerating a little, but I have a friend who's the exact opposite and our talks are very illuminating.

But yeah, I have to listen to a work several times in close succession before it becomes familiar. It does depend on era--themes by Mozart and Beethoven are easiler to recall than those of most 20th+ century composers.

[DavidW]

But yeah, I have to listen to a work several times in close succession before it becomes familiar. It does depend on era--themes by Mozart and Beethoven are easiler to recall than those of most 20th+ century composers.

Usually for me, 3 to 5 listens for pre-modern music, and 10 listens for modern before it sticks in my head.